Tak Miyagishima to Be Celebrated by AMPAS

Esteemed design engineer spent more than 50 years at Panavision.

AMPAS will host an Aug. 16 celebration of Takuo "Tak" Miyagishima’s accomplishments, which will include a discussion followed by a screening of Steven Spielberg’s historical drama Empire of the Sun (1984).

Miyagishima, one of the most esteemed design engineers in the motion picture industry, died on August 4 at the age of 83. The celebration of his accomplishments had already been on AMPAS' calendar prior to his passing and will be held as planned.

Empire of the Sun was one of the first feature films to use Panavision’s Primo Series of spherical prime lenses. Miyagishima, Iain Neil and Panavision received a technical achievement award in 1990 for these lenses.

During the evening, Neil will participate in a discussion that will also feature Science and Technology Council member Peter Anderson, five-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Allen Daviau, and oral historian Duane Dell'Amico. Industry veteran Rob Hummel will serve as the evening’s host.

Miyagishima spent more than 50 years at Panavision, retiring in 2009 as senior vp engineering.

During his career, Miyagishima received the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation for dedicated service to the Academy; and he was among a select group of sci-tech giants whose contributions to the industry have merited the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, and with it an Oscar statuette.

Miyagishima is credited with many of the ideas and inventions that made Panavision successful; he even designed the iconic Panavision logo itself. During his tenure, Panavision and its employees received more than 20 scientific and technical awards from AMPAS.